Author: Nicholas Hardiker

Date: 1998-02-27

Introduction

There is an increasing number of controlled nursing vocabularies which are used within manual and computer-based patient record systems to record the health status of patients and the care given to patients. These vocabularies have been developed in very different ways due to differences in culture, the target domain, and the intended purpose. The result is a range of very different vocabularies both in terms of structure and content. Achieving consensus on a single standard nursing vocabulary is problematic. The CEN/TC251 work item 2.18 Systems of Concepts to Support Nursing has been defined to address these problems but the work has not yet started; moreover there is some uncertainty as to the best strategic approach. This proposal argues the need for a small-scale preliminary study.

1 Scope and objectives

The scope of this study is to develop a strategy for the CEN/TC 251 work on concepts for nursing by examining four existing vocabularies as examples and taking other international and TC 251 work into account.

The specific objectives of the study are:

• to provide a basis for discussion and further development
• to develop a strategy on how to proceed towards an ENV
• to highlight overlapping work and potential interaction with other CEN/TC251 activities (specifically CEN/TC 251 WGII 2.16 Systems of Concepts to Support Continuity of Care)
• to consider the possibility of also performing work in this area within the newly established ISO committee

This study is restricted to the 4 vocabularies included in the study; more accurately of a selected subset of terms drawn from these vocabularies. The vocabularies included are: the Danish and Swedish national classifications for nursing; the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP); and the Read Thesaurus (England).

2 Working method

Work will involve:

• the adaptation of an existing prototype categorial structure and limited thesaurus of English descriptors
• the evaluation of the categorial structure against the 4 test vocabularies. This will involve the selection (and translation into English if necessary) of a small representative sample of terms from each of the vocabularies and the mapping of these terms to the categorial structure
• the identification of potential overlap with the conceptual model developed for CEN/TC 251 WGII 2.16 Systems of Concepts to Support Continuity of Care
• the development of a possible strategy on how to proceed with work towards an ENV
• presenting possible ways of using non-European work and achieving a global consensus

It is hoped that the results of the study will form the basis of a task session at a CEN/TC251 joint working groups meeting.

3 Deliverable

The result of the study will be an internal TC251 report. (Following the proposed task session an informal interim report will present the initial results of the evaluation and issues arising out of the task session to CEN/TC251Working Group II). After wider circulation and comment, the final report may form the basis of a published CEN report.

4 Personnel

Margareta Ehnfors, Swedish Nurses Association
Nicholas Hardiker, Medical Informatics Group, University of Manchester
Derek Hoy, Nursing and Community Health, Glasgow Caledonian University
Gunnar Nielsen, Danish Institute for Health and Nursing Research
Lise Therkelsen, Danish Nurses Association

5 Contact

Nicholas Hardiker
Research Fellow
Medical Informatics Group
Department of Computer Science
University of Manchester
Manchester
M13 9PL
UK
Tel: +44 161 275 6149
Fax: +44 161 275 6932
email: hardiker@cs.man.ac.uk